The Last Resort

2018-10-25

The team led by Ray was the last team still searching the seemingly abandoned battleship. The relatively small force of humanity on the shore was eagerly awaiting an all-clear from each of the inspecting groups. So far all but one team had sent in that precious all clear. Ray’s team alone was still searching the haggard battleship that would hopefully be their escape. The ship was found on the cost by one of humanity’s remaining scouting squadrons that had been searching for anything that could help them flee their dying world. Despite the ship being clear so far, the teams and the last remnants of humanity on shore were still uneasy.

The team members who had been tasked with determining if their last hope would be able to forge out into the vastness of the ocean had reported that the vessel was, in fact, seaworthy. The last room in the grand search was the ship’s galley, a task that had fallen to the last remnant of Ray’s team. The marine looked at his two remaining members who hadn’t been stationed at another part of the ship to ensure that there was no sign of trouble and waited for their nods to his unasked question. Once they gave it, he waited for the member on his right to position himself so he could open the door. When ready Ray nodded to his fellow marine, Charles opened the door, and once it was just open, Ray kicked the door wide open as he shoved his rifle into the room.

The room, just like everywhere else on the ship, was dark but Ray had grown so accustomed to the darkness that he was able to track a bit of motion in the back of the galley. And instinctively the grizzled marine pulled his rifle to his shoulder and controled his breathing as he squared the rifle’s sights upon that motion before he squeezed the trigger. The bolt of pale blue energy flew from the barrel of his rifle and bathing the room in a pale blue glow for just an instant. Unfortunately, in that instant the light was more than enough for Ray to see the vastness of the infestation in the galley.

The room was full of the creatures that had devastated humanity. Those things were monsters of humanity’s own creation and the fact that those beasts were made while trying to find cures for a wide array of diseases ultimately didn’t matter. These creatures were mishappened, but they were not the lumbering hulks they appeared to be instead they were dangerously fast and exceptionally strong. Thankfully their rifles were just the weapons needed to put these monsters down. As the bolt that flew from Ray’s rifle was racing through the galley the marine watched as it impacted the beast that had pulled Ray’s eyes towards it.

As the light dissipated and the creature was falling to the floor, Ray was able to hear the motions from the rest of the infestation. He immeadiately cleared the doorway crying out, “Light’em up we have a nest!”

Without argument, the other two marines pulled their own rifles to their shoulders and squeezed their triggers as quickly as they could move the ends of their weapons upon the coming targets. Bolt after bolt of pale blue light poured into the doorway, lighting up the galley and their portion of the hallway. Ray could see as each of the creatures turned and tried to force its way out of the confined galley. And as each attempted to make that journey through the doorway a bolt from one of the three rifles would pierce the creature forcing it to fall upon the floor.

There were so many of these creatures that as each of the three marines depleted their rifles power cell, the quickly and efficiently swapped it out for a fresh one. Each kept firing until they were down to their last cell. Once they all stopped shooting Ray pulled out a small sphere from his belt and pressed its single button. He released the button and counted to two before he tossed it into the galley. The sphere hung in mid-air and began to glow like a miniaturized sun.

Now that the galley was well lit with its own personalized star Ray was able to see everything in the room as clearly as if they were outside, after adjusting to the bright light. The three marines stood in the hallway and waited for something in the galley to move. After waiting for what felt like an hour, Ray took a tentative step towards the room and pulled out a handheld periscope to see if any creatures were still hiding just inside the doorframe. Thankfully when Ray looked through his invaluable tool, he saw that there wasn’t a single creature still standing.

Ray put the periscope into his pocket and readied his rifle as he took his first step into the galley. Of course, that was when one of the creatures made a lurching motion which prompted Ray to fire at its middle. The creature fell forward knocking an item from the table flinging it at Ray. When it struck the floor, Ray bent over and carefully lifted the object but managed to keep his men from seeing it.

“Ray, what was that?” Kevin asked.

“It was a stragaler, Kevin,” Charles answered.

“I know what the creature was!” Kyle quipped before he asked Ray, “What was that thing that flew towards you?”

Ray lifted the object above his head answering, “Its a whisk.”

“A whisk?” Charles asked.

Ray laughed as he dropped the metallic whisk to the floor as he carefully examined the remains of the bodies that were scattered around the galley’s floor. After an intensive examination of the remains, Ray opened his radio to the global channel. “We have a lot of cleanup to get done here, but we are good to get our ride off the mainland and to safety.”